daniel's riddle
by mischief26
Summary: all he wanted was to finish his report...daniel's riddle is up! thanks for reading!


I don't own them. I just love them too much. Sorry this took so long. It's a bit longer than the other two. Thanks to my friend Yahel for supplying the riddle!  
  
Daniel circled the artifact SG-11 had brought back from P3A- 685, trying to figure out where to start. The inscription on the left side looked promising. Daniel took a picture of each side for reference before settling down to translate.  
  
Colonel O'Neill wanted some pie. Doctor Frasier was busy with SG-4, Teal'c was kelnoreeming, and Carter was about to blow up one of her doohickeys. That left Daniel. As Jack walked along the gray corridors, he thought about the kinds of pie the commissary was offering with lunch. His mind set on apple cinnamon, he knocked on the door to the archaeologist's office. There was no response. Jack frowned. He was sure Daniel was in there. He was supposed to be figuring out the rock that SG-11 brought home from P3whatever. Jack knocked again. Still, no one answered. A little worried, he slowly opened the door, only to find Daniel surrounded by the papers and books that covered his desk. Daniel was so engrossed in his work that he hadn't heard Jack knock. Jack shook his head. He saw not one, but two empty cups that had most likely contained coffee. Jack closed the door. Daniel didn't look up. Jack rocked on his heels for a minute, but when the archaeologist still didn't acknowledge him, he snuck up behind him and leaned over his ear.  
  
"Hey Daniel."  
  
Daniel jumped in surprise and fell out of his chair. Jack smiled and tried to contain his laughter.  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"Sure you are. When did you get in here?"  
  
"A few minutes ago." Jack offered Daniel a hand up. "I want pie. Do you want to come?"  
  
Daniel sighed. "Sorry, Jack. Hammond wants this report by 8:30 tonight, before we go on downtime."  
  
"Come on, Daniel. Five minutes. Then you can get back to work."  
  
"Still no."  
  
Jack shrugged. "Oh well." Daniel returned to his translation. He was brought back to reality by a loud crash behind him.  
  
"Oops." Jack picked up the statue he had been playing with and checked for damage. "It's okay, Daniel. No scratches." Daniel sighed. There was no way he'd have his report on General Hammond's desk by 8:30 if Jack was messing around in his office.  
  
"Hey, Jack?"  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"If you can answer a riddle, I'll come get pie with you."  
  
Jack smiled, unable to resist the challenge. "Try me, Daniel." Daniel sat down and started.  
  
"There's this poor miller who has a beautiful daughter. They are behind on their rent and their landlord is a mean, unfair kinda guy. The landlord comes to the miller and says that if he could marry the miller's daughter, the debt would be forgotten. The daughter is understandably unwilling to marry him."  
  
"Does she marry the guy?"  
  
Daniel sighed. "Do you or don't you want pie?"  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"Thank you." Daniel continued.  
  
"In order to seem fair to the rest of the village, the landlord offers a fair way to decide. Outside of the miller's house, there is a path covered in black and white pebbles. The landlord says that he will put two pebbles in a bag, one of each color. If the daughter takes out the black one, she marries him. If she pulls out the white one, she is free to stay single and the father's debt is forgotten. The daughter doesn't trust the landlord, but the father agrees, and a time is set for the next morning in the town square. The next morning, unable to sleep, the daughter walks out into the garden. There, she sees the landlord sneaking around. The landlord takes two black pebbles and puts them in the bag before going away. The daughter is seriously worried. If she takes out a black pebble, she will have to marry the landlord, but if she exposes his cheating, he will refuse to forget about her father's debt. How does she get out of marrying the landlord without making him look bad?"  
  
Jack sat back in thought. "Is there any way that she could slip in a white pebble?"  
  
Daniel shook his head. "Not in front of everyone in town, no."  
  
A few minutes later, Jack was still there, still thinking. Daniel put down his notebook. "Why don't you ask Sam?"  
  
Jack shook his head. "She's busy."  
  
"That was over 45 minutes ago. She might know. If she doesn't, she might have pie with you."  
  
Jack nodded. "Sounds like an idea. I'll be back soon, though." He left, closing the door behind him. Daniel wondered if he should call Sam to warn her that Jack was coming her way, but then thought the better of it. Besides, Sam liked having Jack in her lab when she worked. #####################################################################  
  
Sam didn't look up when Jack knocked on her door. "Come in, sir."  
  
Jack was surprised. "How did you know it was me?"  
  
She smiled. "I've gotten used to it."  
  
"Are you busy?"  
  
Sam shook her head. "No, I actually just put my report on your desk. What's wrong?"  
  
Jack explained the situation to her.  
  
"This all started because you wanted pie?" Jack nodded.  
  
"Well, I'll get pie with you, and I can think while we eat."  
  
Jack agreed, and they headed off in the direction of the commissary. After getting their pie and sitting down, Sam leaned towards him.  
  
"Maybe she slips one in when no one's looking."  
  
"Tried that. She's drawing in the town square. Everyone's looking."  
  
Sam knitted her eyebrows and sat back. Jack pushed her pie closer to her.  
  
"Maybe she borrowed money from some nicer guy and paid the landlord off."  
  
"But that's too short notice. The drawing was in a few hours, sir. She can't pull out both pebbles because that will show that he's lying."  
  
"The Doc loves riddles, right? I'm going to see if she can help." Jack got up to put out his trash. Sam did the same and followed him towards the infirmary. #####################################################################  
  
Once there, they told Janet the riddle and explained to her the various "almost-solutions" they had come up with. Janet thought about it for a while.  
  
"Couldn't she ask him to pull one out, and then claim that he looked? Then, when she pulls out the second one, the crowd sees that they were both black.'  
  
Sam frowned. "No. He can't be exposed, remember? If she shows that he cheated, the deal is off."  
  
"We could always ask Teal'c." Janet suggested. Jack raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Teal'c?" He thought about the Seth riddle and he smiled a little. "It can't hurt. He sees riddles...differently than we do." Unable to think of any more possible answers, the trio headed to Teal'c's quarters. #####################################################################  
  
"A dishonest man should not be permitted to marry the daughter of an honest one."  
  
Everyone smiled at Teal'c's response. "It's only a riddle, Teal'c"  
  
The eyebrow went up. "Is it not acceptable to dismiss the landlord's proposal once the fraud has been uncovered?"  
  
Janet answered him. "That would make sense, but that's not what the riddle is asking."  
  
Teal'c tilted his head. "I see."  
  
Sam checked her watch. "Why don't we ask Daniel?" The group agreed. #####################################################################  
  
Daniel walked towards his office, having handed in his report. He was shocked to find in front of his office the Colonel, the Major, the Doctor, and the Jaffa.  
  
"Um...what's going on?"  
  
"We've got a few answers here, Daniel." Jack gestured to the rest of the group. Daniel listened to their hypotheses and smiled.  
  
"They're all pretty good ideas."  
  
"But..." Sam knew Daniel had a different answer completely. "What did she do, Daniel?"  
  
Daniel opened the door to his office and let them all in. After they had seated themselves, he told them.  
  
"The daughter took out one pebble and dropped it on the path before the villagers could see what color it was. Then, she says that since there should be one pebble of each color in the bag, the only pebble left would be the opposite color of the one she had taken out. Since the other black pebble is in the bag, the townspeople would believe that she had drawn a white pebble. The daughter would be free, and the father's debt forgotten."  
  
Jack, Sam, and Janet stared at him. Teal'c merely smiled, in his own little way.  
  
"I would have never thought of that." Sam exclaimed. Jack looked over at her.  
  
"I doubt that. We just needed more time. That was good, Daniel."  
  
"You are indeed a clever man, DanielJackson."  
  
"Thanks, Teal'c." Teal'c bowed his head. "Jack, did you ever get your pie?"  
  
"Yeah, Carter went with me." Daniel nodded. "I'm hungry." He glanced towards his empty coffee maker.  
  
"Oh no, Daniel." Janet gently tugged him out of his office. "No more coffee until tomorrow. Let's go get you dinner."  
  
The team changed into civilian clothes. They met Janet topside and, after deciding on what restaurant they were going to eat at, the SG-1 clique went off to enjoy their well deserved leave. 


End file.
